On the Banks of Plum Creek

After Pa goes into town with Mr. Hanson and the ponies, Ma and the girls inspect the dugout, which is windowless except for one small wax paper window, and has a roof made of hay. While they wait for Pa to come back, they clean out the place and unpack, and Ma sends Mary Ingalls and Laura to fetch water across the creek at a little spring.

When Pa returns, he has a tin stove with him and marvels that the town is only three miles away. Ma says she doesn’t want to sleep on the floor, so he and Laura go to cut some willow boughs for a makeshift bed that night. They then go to the stable, which is also made of sod. There are two oxen there named Bright and Pete. That evening, Ma remarks on how safe she feels out here, but as Laura tries to fall asleep that night, she thinks of how she’d rather be outside where it’s unsafe than have to sleep in the dugout.

The Ingalls all settle into a routine in their new house, and after Mary and Laura finish their chores in the morning, they go outside to play. They often play in the creek. Laura loves exploring the creek bank and one day discovers that the rushes growing by the water are hollow and they can fashion them into necklaces or use them as straws. Pa and Ma do not mind that they play in the water but caution them that they cannot go upstream beyond the valley because the water is deep and dangerous there.

One Sunday afternoon, Pa takes the girls to see the deep water. After they pass by a tableland and through some thick, tall grass, they come out to the creek, which curves into a wide pool lined by willow trees. As Mary and Laura wade in the water, Ma cautions them to stay near the edge and not go where the water is deep. Laura wanders to where the water comes to her waist and begins to hop and splash.

During one big splash, her head goes under the water. Laura feels something grab her foot and she goes under the surface. For a terrifying moment she can’t breathe or see or grab onto anything, but then she emerges with Pa holding her. Pa tells her that she disobeyed Ma by going in deeper and he ducked her for her disobedience. Laura begs him to do it again, making Pa laugh.

As they’re returning home, Laura wants to climb the tableland. Pa climbs first and the two girls climb after him with his help. From there they can see prairie extending to the horizon. As they return, Pa once more cautions them to never go near the swimming hole without him.

During the next hot day, Laura thinks about the deep water. Then, she thinks of the tableland and wonders if she can climb it by herself. She returns to it and struggles, but eventually makes it to the top. However, she is soon bored and thirsty and decides to return home for a drink. She thinks of going to the swimming hole and decides she’ll just wade at the edge. As she is following the path that Pa made the day before, she comes across an animal she’s never seen before with long gray fur bristling all over and a flat head. As she stares at it, the animal flattens itself. When Laura pokes it with a stick the animal snarls at her and she runs away.

At home, Mary is sitting and practicing her reading. Laura feels guilty for disobeying her parents. That night, as she listens to Pa play his violin, the guilt overtakes her, and she goes to him and confesses. Pa tells her the strange animal must have been a badger. Pa tells her that she’s broken his trust and she must stay where Ma can watch her all day tomorrow until she’s regained their trust.

The next day Laura stays indoors all day and is very bored. She helps Ma with chores, including mending, and at the end of the day, Ma promises they will go look for the badger—which she says saved Laura from drowning. The following day they find the badger’s hole, but he does not come out again.

Out on the prairie is a long gray rock where Laura and Mary like to play. But they only play there at midday because morning and evening the cattle go by in a herd.

Late one afternoon, Pa takes the girls with him to go watch Johnny Johnson, the herd boy, guide the cattle home. They watch the cows, which are in a variety of colors, some with horns. Then, they see a beautiful small white cow with a red spot in the middle of her forehead, and a circle of red spots on her side as big as roses. Pa tells the girls to help him drive that cow into their stable, and they realize with delight that Pa has purchased her.

In the stable, Laura squats down beside her with a tin cup and milks her, as she’s seen Pa do before. Pa tells them the cow’s name is Reet, and that when he seemed confused, Mrs. Nelson told him it meant “a reet of roses” (43). They all laugh realizing she meant a “wreath,” and Pa could not understand her Norwegian accent. Ma declares the cow’s name will now be “Spot.”

With Spot comes more chores for Laura and Mary, including taking her every morning to the big gray rock to join the herd, and collecting her every afternoon. Meanwhile, Pa works for Mr. Nelson to pay for the cow and the oxen have nothing to do all day, so Laura and Mary shepherd them to and from the stable.

One day the cattle are angry and fighting one another around the rock. Laura jumps down, and with the help of Jack and Johnny, manages to steer their livestock toward the stable. As they’re going in, suddenly Pete wheels around and gallops back after the herd, and as Laura chases him, he suddenly climbs on top of the dugout. Laura sees his hind leg go through the roof, and she’s afraid he’ll fall through onto her family.

Laura and Jack finally chase Pete into the stable, and Ma reassures her no great damage has been done. When part of the roof caves in, the next day Laura helps Pa mend the roof with fresh willow boughs, grass, earth, and sod.

After Pa finishes his work for Mr. Nelson, he begins harvesting the wheat in their own field and making hay from the level prairie across the creek for the upcoming winter. Men come with a threshing machine to help him thresh the wheat.

Laura and Mary begin to play on the straw-stack, jumping off and sliding off until the stack is a mess. At dinner, Pa chides them and tells them not to play on the straw-stack anymore. Laura feels compelled to climb it again, even though Mary reminds her that Pa said they shouldn’t. Soon she is rolling down the stack again and convinces Mary to join her.

That night, Pa asks both girls if they were sliding down the straw-stack again, but Laura replies that they did not slide but rolled down it. Pa hides his face, and when he looks back at them his eyes twinkle, and he tells them they must not go near the stack again. This time the girls listen and obey him.

When the plums are ripening on the wild plum trees, Pa begins plowing the field across the creek to sow more hay. He plows a wide plot of land, hoping that it will bring them significant income. Meanwhile, Laura and Mary begin to collect and dry plums, which grow in red, yellow, and blue varieties.

Soon the first frost arrives, and the large frost plums finally ripen. It’s almost Thanksgiving, but the days stay warm and there is no snow or rain. Pa says that Mr. Nelson calls it “grasshopper weather” and he doesn’t know what this means.

Pa and Ma go to town to get supplies for the upcoming winter, leaving Mary and Laura alone to mind their home. After lunch Laura and Mary argue, and when Laura runs out of the house, she sees that the cattle have surrounded Pa’s haystacks and are eating the hay.

Jack, Mary, and Laura run toward the cattle. Laura gets hot and dizzy but still chases the cows and waves her stick, pulling Mary behind her. Finally, she changes direction and starts running toward the cows rather than behind them. The cow running toward her swerves and the others gallop after her, while Laura and Mary successfully chase them away from the hay.

Mary and Laura sit on the top of the dugout waiting for their parents to return. Mary remarks that they are moving really fast, and when Laura looks at the wagon, she realizes Pete and Bright are running away. Pa is running beside Bright, trying to turn the oxen back from the creek bank, but the oxen gallop nearer and nearer to the steep edge of the creek bank. Pa strikes Bright’s head, and Bright crashes against the stable, stopping the runaway wagon.

Pa tells Ma that Pete saved her and Carrie from crashing by steering them toward the stable. At dinner, the girls fill their parents in on everything that happened. Pa tells them he knew he could trust them to take care of everything, and then gives them horehound candy he brought them from town.